The Braves have maintained a top-tier farm system over the past few years, and it’s still a quality system, but it’s only a few graduates away from looking rather depleted. Three of Atlanta’s top four prospects (Teheran, Delgado, Simmons) should push through to the bigs this year. A couple more top ten guys should see significant time in Atlanta, too. Teheran and Delgagdo are battling for a starting pitching role. Both have outstanding fantasy potential. Pastornicky and Simmons are battling for the shortstop role. Both are rather boring for fantasy. There’s little intrigue beyond that, for now.

Pastornicky will open the season as full-time shortstop for the Braves. But as Grey noted yesterday in his Rookies to Target post, he’s unlikely to be of much help outside of NL-Only formats. Pastornicky is, at best, a bench player on any other major league roster. Don’t expect too much out of him.

Simmons is likely the shortstop of the future for Atlanta, but he’s not quite as ready as Pastornicky. His hitting will never be spectacular, but his glove will allow him to start in the bigs for a while. There’s still a shred of hope that he’ll start the start the season in Atlanta, but it doesn’t seem likely. Should Pastorinicky struggle – and I suspect he will – Simmons could be up for the second half or sooner. Still, he won’t be an exciting fantasy option.

The Braves likely won’t make a decision on the fifth starter for another week as they don’t need a fifth starter ’til April 11. It’s between Teheran and Delgado at this point, and either would be a nice SP option in any format. Teheran is the more exciting prospect, though. At just 20 years old, he dominated Triple-A last year and he has the potential to be an ace in the big leagues.

Delgado projects more like a second or third starter. And although he doesn’t quite have the ceiling of Teheran, he’s still very much in the running for the available starter’s role and he could be equally effective for 2012. Monitor this situation.

Terdoslavich posted an .867 OPS in a full season at High-A last year. The switch-hitter will start 2012 in Double-A, but the Braves are likely to take their time with him as he hasn’t yet settled in defensively. He projects to hit 20+ homers with a solid AVG in the majors. If he stinks, though, his name will surely inspire much turd-wordplay. Or turdplay. Disgusting. Don’t play with turds, people!

2011 was a breakout year for Spruill. He worked low in the zone consistently ended up posting a 1.01 WHIP in 130 IP at High-A. He’ll start 2012 in Double-A. If efficient ways continue for Spruill, he could blossom into a nice innings-eating starter in the majors.

Hoover should arrive sometime in 2012, but the Braves seem intent on using him out of the bullpen, effectively eliminating all fantasy value. He projects like a backend innings-eater, but the organization is flush with young pitching talent, so the opportunity to start probably won’t come.

Nice post. I think Christian Bethancourt deserves a mention at catcher. He’s obviously blocked by McCann but will be an MLB starter someday soon, even if not with the Braves.

Sean Gilmartin (LHP) is another worth mentioning. He was the Braves’ first round pick in the draft, and had a fairly good spring including a very nice start against the Jays. Braves LHP early draft picks with ~90mph fastballs basically have a ceiling of Tom Glavine and floor of Mike Minor, so that bodes well too.

@Sweeney, Gilmartin is closer to cracking this list than Bethancourt, although both should be included a year from now. Gilmartin doesn’t show me enough with his stuff to have me looking past his lack of experience (23 professional IP). With Bethancourt, it’s all hype at this point & he’s yet to back it up w/ production. He should spend some time in Double-A this year, where I hope his numbers begin to fall in line with his projectable tools. Exciting, but too raw.